360 degrees Performance Appraisal. Many organisation still use this method including my own company. However I believe we should move on to more responsive approach..

360 degrees Performance Appraisal.
I have been using this method for many years. Probably it is easy to use, but is it really working? We will discuss about it in the later part.
You know that I am always proposing KPI that you should see every day and get updated instantly, rather than doing it once a year.
However since many people are still using this I will write about it. In fact we will add that into one of the standard OfficeCentral module -KPI module- Personal Assessment 360.Introduction:
The 360 degrees Performance Appraisal method was first used in the 1940s.
Analogous to the multiple points on a compass, the 360 method provides
each employee the opportunity to receive performance feedback from his
or her supervisor, peers, staff members, co-workers and customers.Which category of staff use Performance 360?
Normally for Managers, senior levels. The work is complex and he interact with many group of people.

Who do the assessment
The following person do the 360 assessment.

Self appraisal –
gives a chance to the employee to look at his/her strengths and weaknesses, his achievements, and judge his own performance

Superior’s appraisal-
Superior’s appraisal forms the traditional part of the 360 degree
appraisal where the employees’ responsibilities and actual performance
is rated by the superior.

Subordinate’s appraisal –
gives a chance to judge the employee on the parameters like
communication and motivating abilities, superior’s ability to delegate
the work, leadership qualities etc

Peer appraisal –
the correct feedback given by peers can help to find employees’
abilities to work in a team, co-operation and sensitivity towards
others.

The advantages of 360 appraisal:

Offer a more comprehensive view towards the performance of employees.

Improve credibility of performance appraisal.

Such colleague’s feedback will help strengthen self-development.

Increases responsibilities of employees to their customers.

The mix of ideas can give a more accurate assessment.

Opinions gathered from lots of staff are sure to be more persuasive.

Not only manager should make assessments on its staff performance but other colleagues should do, too.

People who undervalue themselves are often motivated by feedback from others.

If
more staff takes part in the process of performance appraisal, the
organizational culture of the company will become more honest.

The disadvantages of 360 appraisal:

Taking a lot of time, and being complex in administration

Extension of exchange feedback can cause troubles and tensions to several staff.

There is requirement for training and important effort in order to achieve efficient working.

It will be very hard to figure out the results.

Feedback can be useless if it is not carefully and smoothly dealt.

Can impose an environment of suspicion if the information is not openly and honestly managed.

I normally do this to decide on increment in my company. We also do it to promote certain staff. However I believe there must be more than this. This requires another thought. If you loom around, you will see so many design and method people use to do the staff evaluation. Like I said before, I always prefer a system that the staff gets feedback immediately, not once a year.

Coming back to design, we will do the following:
Group:
1. Competency
2. Work Habit
3. Work Attitude
4. Work Performance
5. Deliverables, project management
6. Interpersonal skills

In this example, you already decided what is important and give mark between 0-5

You will see the result from:
1. Himself ( self assessment)
2. From his boss
3. From his peers ( average numbers)
We do not give to customers nd his subordinates to evaluate him.

With that numbers we can see the evaluation,
and make certain decision.

The weakness is that the evaluation takes a lot of time,
and we do it once a year grudgingly.

The question is,
Can we get the data automatically from the system?
We we get feedback faster,
Can the company benefit from getting better performance?

In the end the objective is that the company will benefit from higher performance of the staff,
the staff benefit from the feedback that he will perform better.

The next question is, do all this performance numbers supporting the company strategic plan?
What are company strategic plan?
1. We want the sales to move to RM4.0 million in 2017
2. We want the users to reach 20,000 by the end of 2017
3. We want customer satisfaction to be increased to 90%
4. We want staff satisfaction to move to 90%
5. We want to reach to 20,000 new potential customers.

All this personal assessment will cover certain part of the company requirements,
but not helping into strategic target of the company.
That is why some people will use Balance Score Card to help them guid the direction of the staff towards the specific objectives.

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Ir.Aziz Ismail is very active member of ICT economic cluster in Malaysia. As the (Past) President of TeAM ( Technopreneur Association of Malaysia) and Vice President II NEF ( Bumiputera ICT Entrepreneur Association) he is deeply involved in many strategies, activities and issues related to the industry. He is also a Director of Majlis Tindakan Ekonomi Melayu, an umbrella organisation of 47 national NGOs with 500,000 entrepreneur members.